I’m truly amazed at how well Casa de Manana treats their residents. When I heard they assist residents with as little or as much service as they want or need delivered to the privacy of their home at Casa on their schedule, I quickly realized that Casa de Manana truly respects their residents by ultimately respecting their level of independence. Staff members are not playing around when they say Casa de Manana is an ‘extraordinary retirement resort community.’ You honestly do not have to look inside Casa de Manana to realize that it is not your typical retirement home, since it is literally located right next to the La Jolla coast. Just by standing on Casa de Manana’s front porch, you can literally smell and see the ocean. Once you step inside, you quickly realize the luxurious common areas and the many opportunities to get involved in all sorts of fun activities (ocean walks, musical programs, classes/lectures). With these high living standards, I’m not surprised to hear that the average age of most residents is in the 90s.

​However, I was quite surprised that despite how much residents pay to live in Casa de Manana (ranges anywhere from $3,555 to $10,425 a month) not all the rooms have sufficient ventilation. I also find it interesting how Casa de Manana provides access to an on-site wellness clinic, yet this clinic is right next to a smoking site. So even though residents are receiving healthcare, the location in which they are receiving this type of care is not the best. Based on this observation, I discovered there is no perfect retirement community, but oftentimes money leads to overall better services and therefore healthier aging. I honestly do not think this is fair and for this reason, in my Healthy Aging Project, I hope to provide similar healthy aging services to retirement homes that currently have a small budget.